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Life Systems/Ecology (85)

  1. Available in English Options
5 years old
18 years old
  • Another Side of the Forest
    Another Side of the Forest
    Raoul Fox  &  Strowan Robertson 1974 20 min
    This documentary looks at developments in the Canadian forestry industry from the 1970s. Turning a Newfoundland bog into woodland, fostering British Columbia seedlings that withstand mechanical planting, inoculating Ontario elms against the bark beetle, devising ways of controlling fire... these are some of the experiments shown being carried out in laboratories and in the field to protect and conserve the country's vast forests.
  • Atonement
    Atonement
    Michael McKennirey 1970 50 min
    This documentary shows efforts by Canadian wildlife specialists to preserve and nurture the creatures that remain in our wilderness areas, species such as the whooping crane, prairie falcons, bighorn sheep, bison, polar bears and grizzlies.
  • Arkelope
    Arkelope
    Roslyn Schwartz 1994 5 min
    Arkelope is an animated short that takes a pointed look at endangered species and human indifference. When a middle-aged couple come across a nature documentary on the decline of the arkelope while channel-surfing, they learn that although the species has managed to survive a variety of natural disasters, it is now in imminent danger of extinction due to man's short-sightedness. With a serious yet funny approach, this little film illustrates human passivity in the face of the ubiquitous TV set.
  • Beaver People
    Beaver People
    1928 13 min
    A short silent film about famous conservationist Grey Owl (born Archibald Belaney) and his wife, Anahareo, who had a special talent for interacting with beavers. Note: The beavers in the film may be Grey Owl's pets, Jellyroll and Rawhide.
  • Beaver Family
    Beaver Family
    1931 14 min
    A short silent film portraying Grey Owl, the famous conservationist, and a family of beavers who would come when he called and take food from his hand without the slightest fear. The film is set in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba. The story of Grey Owl's life was the subject of a 1999 feature film starring Pierce Brosnan.
  • The Bear and the Mouse
    The Bear and the Mouse
    F.W. Remmler  &  Ingmar Remmler 1966 7 min
    A variation on a fable by Aesop ("The Lion and the Mouse") in which a mouse aids a mighty lion who had once spared his life. This children's film casts real animals – with a big brown bear in the role of the lion, and proves that little friends can prove to be great friends indeed.
  • Being Caribou
    Being Caribou
    Leanne Allison  &  Diana Wilson 2004 1 h 12 min
    In this feature-length documentary, husband and wife team Karsten Heuer (wildlife biologist) and Leanne Allison (environmentalist) follow a herd of 120,000 caribou on foot across 1500 km of Arctic tundra. In following the herd's migration, the couple hopes to raise awareness of the threats to the caribou's survival. Along the way they brave Arctic weather, icy rivers, hordes of mosquitoes and a very hungry grizzly bear. Dramatic footage and video diaries combine to provide an intimate perspective of an epic expedition.
  • Big Trees
    Big Trees
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    Ann Marie Fleming 2013 12 min
    This short semi-animated film tells the story of a woman's spectacular ocean view from her apartment in Vancouver’s West End. How far will she go when leaves start to obscure her panorama, her light and her happiness? A brilliant blend of stop-motion, projections and models, drawings and altered live-action transports us into a meditation on the tension between urban life and the natural environment. Like Don Giovanni, will our ambitious protagonist stop at nothing to get her way?
  • Borealis
    Borealis
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    Kevin McMahon 2020 1 h 33 min
    In his new feature documentary Borealis, acclaimed director Kevin McMahon (Waterlife) travels deep into the heart of the boreal forest to explore the chorus of life in Canada’s iconic wilderness. How do trees move, communicate and survive the destructive forces of fire, insects, and human encroachment? Borealis offers an immersive portrait of the lifecycles of the forest from the perspective of the plants and animals that live there.
  • Worldviews
    Worldviews
    Malcolm Sutherland 2020 3 min
    Geneticist and environmentalist David Suzuki celebrates the pleasure of knowing we humans are squishy organic material in an inter-related web of life—and we’d better not forget that! An invitation to go out and play and learn from the real world.
  • A Crack in the Pavement: Growing Dreams
    A Crack in the Pavement: Growing Dreams
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    Jane Churchill  &  Gwynne Basen 2000 19 min
    This short documentary shows initiatives kids take to transform bare pavement into dream schoolyards. Some grow trees for shade, and vegetables for a food bank. Others build a greenhouse or a rooftop garden, while others yet construct a courtyard pond as an outdoor classroom and refuge for wildlife.

    A Crack in the Pavement is a two-part video set that shows children, teachers and parents how they can work together to 'green' their school grounds and make positive changes in their communities.
  • Chemical Conquest
    Chemical Conquest
    Larry Gosnell 1956 25 min
    A documentary about the chemical research that was used against crop-threatening insects, plant diseases and weeds in the 1950s. The film shows laboratory experiments at a government research station and poses questions about the ultimate effects of toxic substances on food-producing soil.
  • A Crack in the Pavement: Digging In
    A Crack in the Pavement: Digging In
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    Jane Churchill  &  Gwynne Basen 2000 18 min
    This short documentary follows students from Toronto's Jesse Ketchum School as they take steps towards the greening of their schoolyard. Along the way they get how-to advice and inspiration from kids across the country; from Pauline Public School, where students raised $10,000, to Broadacres School, where a family of wild ducks found a home in their pond.

    A Crack in the Pavement is a two-part video set that shows children, teachers and parents how they can work together to 'green' their school grounds and make positive changes in their communities
  • The Conquerors
    The Conquerors
    Tibor Banoczki  &  Sarolta Szabo 2011 12 min
    In this animated short, a young couple washed onto a strange, inhospitable shore, attempts to transform the land into an Eden. Through great effort they prosper, learning to conquer nature and their environment. But what will their victory mean? Alternately a vision of paradise and purgatory, with allusions to the Book of Genesis and prehistory, the film tells the story of human beings and their conquests, offering a dark, critical view of the rise and fall of civilizations.
  • The Changing Forest
    The Changing Forest
    Maurice Constant 1958 17 min
    A brief essay on the ecology of a forest along the Laurentian Shield, in Quebec. We see the forest as an integrated community of living things, balanced by conflict as well as harmony, and learn why the maple tree is best able to survive the struggle for supremacy in the Laurentian forest area.
  • Circuit marine
    Circuit marine
    Isabelle Favez 2003 7 min
    "All you need is food," the Beatles could have sung if they had been inspired by Circuit marine, a whimsical fantasy about our cruel, carnivorous world. To be eaten or not to be eaten: that is the question for a ginger cat, a goldfish and a colourful parrot which a tender-hearted pirate tries to get to live happily together along with his hungry crew. We can only wonder who will be the next meal on this ship of food. As the ship pitches and rolls to a sprightly gypsy tune, the cat relentlessly pursues the goldfish, and even the parrot gets into the act. But who is predator and who is prey? Everyone ends up down someone's gullet. Isabelle Favez's colourful and humorous film is a tasteful reminder that we're all links in the food chain.
  • Woolly Mammoth
    Woolly Mammoth
    Bill Maylone 1979 1 min
    This very short animated film from the Canada Vignettes series depicts a large animal that lived on the Canadian tundra over 10,000 years ago: the woolly mammoth.
  • Christopher, Please Clean Up Your Room!
    Christopher, Please Clean Up Your Room!
    Vincent Gauthier 2001 6 min
    This short animated film stars Christopher, a terrific kid with one major problem… he's messy! His shoes smell funky, his fish bowl stinks, and even the cockroaches can't stand it. In the chaos of Christopher's room, his fish rise up from their scummy bowl in protest. They enlist the help of a fastidious cockroach. Together, the fish and the roaches hatch a plan that will change Christopher's life and his cleaning habits forever.

    Part of the Talespinners collection, which uses vibrant animation to bring popular children’s stories from a wide range of cultural communities to the screen.
  • Death of a Legend
    Death of a Legend
    Bill Mason 1971 49 min
    This documentary film by Bill Mason is about wolves and the negative myths surrounding the animal. Exceptional footage portrays the wolf's life cycle and the social organization of the pack, as well as other film of caribou, moose, deer and buffalo. Mason later made a feature documentary on wolves (Cry of the Wild, 1973) that played theatrically throughout North America and earned $5 million at the box office.
  • A Day in Forillon
    A Day in Forillon
    Michel Bouchard 1978 7 min
    This short film illustrates a day in the life at Forillon National Park. Situated on the Gaspé peninsula in Quebec, the park offers spectacular views of sea, mountain and forest. A monumental landscape not to be missed. A film without words.
  • An Ecology of Hope
    An Ecology of Hope
    Fernand Dansereau 2001 1 h 24 min
    A documentary portrait of ecologist Pierre Dansereau, the film takes us from Baffin Island to New York City, from the Gaspé Peninsula to Brazil. At each stop on this world tour, we hear his story and witness landscapes of breathtaking beauty.
  • Estuary
    Estuary
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    Don White 1979 11 min
    Winter lasts nine months in Canada's alpine regions, but when spring does arrive in late June, the different alpine zones--the meadow, the treeline, and the tundra--teem with life. From the lichen surviving at the uppermost limits of life to the insects, birds and mammals that populate the beautiful meadows, this film explores the special adaptations and delicate balance established between the plants and animals of this harsh environment.
  • Examined Life
    Examined Life
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    Astra Taylor 2008 1 h 28 min

    “The unexamined life is not worth living.” —Socrates

    Examined Life pulls philosophy out of academia and classrooms and puts it back on the streets.

    In Examined Life, filmmaker Astra Taylor accompanies some of today’s most influential thinkers on a series of unique excursions through places and spaces that hold particular resonance for them and their ideas.

  • From the Big Bang to Tuesday Morning
    From the Big Bang to Tuesday Morning
    Claude Cloutier 2000 5 min
    Propelled by Claude Cloutier’s signature drawing style and absurdist humour, this animated short offers an overview of the evolution of life on Earth from rock to human, with some surprising twists in between.
  • For Future Generations
    For Future Generations
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    Boyce Richardson 1985 54 min
    This documentary is about the conservation ethic in Canada that led to the national parks systems around the world. Includes interviews with the then-Minister of Natural Resources, Jean Chretien.
  • Freshwater World
    Freshwater World
    Giles Walker 1974 24 min
    This documentary explores a variety of projects undertaken by scientists at Environment Canada's Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg to study the processes that pollute or disrupt clean and balanced freshwater environments.
  • From Ashes to Forest
    From Ashes to Forest
    Tony Ianzelo 1984 52 min
    Filmed in several of Canada's national parks (including Banff and Wood Buffalo), this feature documentary looks at forest fires versus fire suppression. Sometimes forest fires are essential for plant renewal, healthy growth, soil enrichment and new environments for wildlife.
  • Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie
    Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie
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    Sturla Gunnarsson 2010 1 h 32 min
    This feature documentary profiles the life and work of world-renowned Canadian scientist, educator, broadcaster and activist David Suzuki on the occasion of his last lecture in 2009—a lecture he describes as “a distillation of my life and thoughts, my legacy, what I want to say before I die.” As Suzuki reflects on his family history—including the persecution of Japanese Canadians during WWII—and his discovery of the power and beauty of the natural world, we are spurred to examine our own relationship to nature, scientific knowledge, and sustainability throughout modernity and beyond.
  • The Great Clean-up
    The Great Clean-up
    James Carney 1976 52 min
    This documentary is about pollution in the Great Lakes. To tidy up the biggest body of fresh water in the world is a massive operation. The Great Clean-up documents changes to legislation affecting the emission of industrial pollutants into the environment on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border.
  • A Great White Bird
    A Great White Bird
    Michael McKennirey 1976 51 min
    This film documents the efforts of a group of Canadians and Americans to save the whooping crane from extinction. They display great determination in their dealings with this independent, pre-Ice Age creature. The issues of wild animals imprinting on people and the preservation of wild animals in captivity are examined in this film. Produced in cooperation with the Canadian Wildlife Service and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.